Photo-induced oxidative cleavage of C-C double bonds for the synthesis of biaryl methanone via CeCl3 catalysis

A Ce-catalyzed strategy is developed to produce biaryl methanones via photooxidative cleavage of C-C double bonds at room temperature. This reaction is performed under air and demonstrates high activity as well as functional group tolerance. A synergistic Ce/ROH catalytic mechanism is also proposed based on the experimental observations. This protocol should be the first successful Ce-catalyzed photooxidation reaction of olefins with air as the oxidant, which would provide inspiration for the development of novel Ce-catalyzed photochemical synthesis processes.